The Key To A Heart
by Hot Crimson Passion
Summary: Best friends finally reunited. Late night thoughts and nights on the beach. Feelings come to the surface, but what can you do about them? Lemon in later chapters. RxS, mention of AxR
1. Chapter 1

The Key To A Heart

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Disclaimer: I don't own these characters…except for 19 stuffed Stitch's, do they count?

And A GIANORMOS thank you goes out to elichi for beta-ing this for me!

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Chapter One

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"I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not afraid of the dark." The young brunet repeated over and over to himself as a mantra, while sitting up in the strange bed. A single bedside lamp illuminated the room that was supposed to be his for the night. Growling in frustration, he threw the covers off himself, stood up, and began pacing the small room.

At the age of fifteen, Sora had done more in the last two years, than anyone else could have ever imagined. Travelling to many different worlds, saving said worlds; not once, not twice, but now three times. Well, almost. They were resting in the World That Never Was, in a building that was not overrun by the heartless, or the nobodies. With magic and a lot of help from all those he met on his journey, a barrier was erected around one of the abandoned houses, to give him and his party a final resting place to bed before going on to battle against the head of Organization XIII.

Xemnas. The original nobody.

Just thinking about that name sent chills down Sora's spine. How he used people for his own advantages, without hesitation. How he manipulated everyone, even people who were part of his own organization. How he had managed to manipulate Sora into doing his dirty work for him by gathering hearts. That thought still caused him to shutter.

But through all the turmoil and problems that he had overcome, there had been a lot of good things that happened as well. Such as finally being reunited with Kairi and Riku. And now, they were all here together, in the World That Never Was, gathering their strength before taking on Xemnas, before returning to their island, before returning to a semi-normal life.

But here Sora was, sitting in bed, unable to sleep, staring at a small lamp and telling himself that he was not afraid of the dark. Oh, he could take on hoards and hoards of heartless and nobodies, and even the Organization, but heaven forbid that he could turn off a lamp to get some sleep.

As he sat there in the relative silence, he thought of what all was going to change when he got back to the island. Would he be able to go back to living a normal life? What would his parents say when he came back? He had run off that night without even saying goodbye. Did they think that he hated them? It had almost been two years since he had seen them. Or had they forgotten him, just as everyone else had? Sora knew that he wouldn't be able to handle his parents not remembering him.

With a frustrated sigh, Sora put his head in his hands. So much was weighing on his shoulders in the upcoming battle, and he just couldn't get his mind to calm down. The silence was unnerving to him, being far too quite for a building that Donald was currently in. Looking once more over to the lamp, the brunet reached over to the light with a shaky hand, trying to face this fear. It shouldn't be that difficult. Grabbing his wrist to try and steady his trembling hand, Sora felt his fingers come in contact with the lamp, and as he slammed his eyes shut, he pulled the small chain and effectively stole all the light from the small room.

With an over exaggerated motion, Sora slowly opened his eyes one at a time to peer into the dark room, without a single ray of light to be found anywhere. It wasn't all that different then when his eyes had been shut. And it wasn't like he was going to sleep with his eyes opened. Taking deep breaths to try and calm his racing heart, a small noise came from the far corner of the tiny room, causing the brunet to jump. Trying his best not to scream and wake everyone else up, but at the same time, trying to prove that the keyblade master was not afraid of something so pitiful as the dark, Sora turned towards the noise, eyes shut once again. Reminding himself that if his eyes were closed he wouldn't be able to see what was making the commotion, Sora once again forced his eyes to open and gaze into the darkness filled room.

Everything seemed to be normal, the darkness falling harmlessly on the motionless objects in the room. Sora knew that he was starting to hyperventilate over something that may very well just be something that was happening in the room next to him. It wasn't like the heartless were invading their nocturnal safe haven, because there would be alarms going off all around them. But there was definitely a noise, because Sora just heard it again. There was no doubt about it, it was in deed here in this room, and being the only occupant, Sora knew that he was not the one making the noise.

He finally gave into his fear and reached an arm back towards the lamp, intent on turning the light back on, as the next surprise came. At the foot of the bed, two neon green lights brightly illuminated the small room. They didn't shed enough light to show Sora what the two lights just hanging in mid air were, and things were just starting to get plain creepy.

"The hell?" Sora whispered, reaching a hand out towards the orbs, despite the screaming objections that his mind was giving.

"Sora!" the strange voice caused Sora to make a very unmasculine noise, which was a cross between a squeak and a hiccup. Then without warning, the two green orbs began to fly at him, and crashed into his chest. And at that instant, Sora knew exactly what was going on.

"Stitch, the hell?" he growled as the small blue alien started to lick at the brunet's face. With a little bit of force, Sora was able to pull the fuzzy creature off of his chest. Unlike the other friends that he was used to calling on for help, Stitch was the only one that was a physical being all the time. The other friends he summoned were more like the shadows, or the spirits, of those that had offered themselves to his aid, yet Stitch travelled around with him all the time, always there. Not to mention that Stitch never actually ever listened to the keyblade master. He just appeared when he wanted to, and at times like this, Sora wanted to just exterminate the blue alien; put everyone out of the misery of dealing with it.

"Stitch cute and fluffy!" the creature exclaimed, followed by a sinister laugh that sent shivers up Sora's spine.

"Shh! You're going to wake everyone up!" the brunet hissed, attempting to keep the blue alien away from him. With a look that was entirely too much like a puppies, the blue creature looked up at Sora with his two unnaturally glowing green eyes, in an excellent semblance of a pout. And seeing only two green eyes floating in midair isn't as cute as you would think. "Can you tone down the glowing eye thing please, Stitch? It's seriously creeping me out."

"Stitch sorry!" the alien exclaimed, despite Sora's earlier warning, before stopping the green glow.

Sora sighed, then began to scratch behind Stitch's floppy blue ear. Stitch made a very cat like purr before leaning into the pleasure giving hand.

"Do I even want to go back to my island anymore? I don't think that it will ever be the same, knowing about all these other worlds, not being able to see any of my new friends." Sora whispered, finding comfort in speaking his fear out loud to the strange creature on his lap. "I mean, what will I say to my mom when I get home? 'Hi mom, sorry I have been gone so long. Just saving the worlds again, by the way what's for dinner?' No, I don't think that I can go back to that anymore. But I don't want to be separated from Riku again, or Kairi. What should I do?"

The blue alien offered no response, but letting his feelings be known was helping Sora, so he continued telling Stitch his fears and woes. "I mean, I'm not going to be in high school with all my friends, I'm two grades behind. And how could I sit there and listen to a stuffy old teacher go on about pitiful little things like math and English, after all that I've been through. I'm not saying that I plan on dropping out, I just don't think that the close minded people of Destiny Islands are going to be enough for me anymore."

"Close minded are we?" A deep voice came from the direction of the doorway. For the second time that night, Sora made a noise that he was not very proud of. Without waiting for a reply, he jumped over, forgetting about Stitch on his lap, and quickly turned on the light. Receiving a growl and a glare from the fuzzy alien, Sora looked over at the doorway where the voice had come from.

"Riku…" The brunet's voice took on an oddly breathless tone as he looked at his platinum haired friend standing there watching him. The boy had grown since Sora had last seen him, now the scrawny and awkward teenager was muscular, tall, and handsome. He had a regal radiance about him, and his aristocratic features had matured well on him. Sora felt a twinge of jealousy at his best friend, knowing that for at least another couple of years, the brunet was not going to be handsome, but cute, and he would never gain the height that Riku had, he would just be lanky for the years to come.

"Who were you talking to anyway?" Riku asked, stepping inside of the small room, which in Sora's opinion had just gotten a little too warm. Especially because all that Riku was wearing, were his pants and a light, little sleeveless white top.

"Oh, I find it helps sometimes to talk to Stitch, seeing as he follows me everywhere." Sora chuckled, scratching the back of his head. Noticing that there was no where to offer Riku a place to sit, Sora moved over and motioned to the part of the bed next to him, where Riku graciously accepted.

"I used to talk to DiZ like that too. But you're lucky, Stitch doesn't talk back." Riku laughed, lounging out next to his childhood friend.

"Wanna bet?" Sora grumbled, before the blue alien crawled back onto Sora's lap and demanded for Sora to continue to scratch behind his ears.

"Neega wala Stitch! Ich!" the creature said, earning a laugh from the older teen.

"You sure do pick the oddest friends, Sora." He laughed, and Sora only shrugged in response before lifting his hand to Stitch's ear. "So what were you saying about people of the Destiny Islands being close minded? We can't be thinking of the same set of backwater islands can we?" The sarcasm literally dripped of Riku's words.

"I just don't know how I'll react to seeing everyone again. Or how they will react to seeing me again. I know what went on during my trip to Castle Oblivion. Everyone forgot me. The only reason why people remembered me was because I basically made them. What if Naminé forgot to restore me to my parents? What do they think of me? Do they think I ran away because I hate them? Because I don't, I mean, it's not like you can ignore a call to save the world." Sora began to ramble, and that brought a slight smile to Riku's face. How he missed this little brunet ball of energy.

"Sora, you have to calm down. Trust me when I tell you that everything will be fine." Riku spoke calmly as he placed a hand on Sora's brown spikes, before ruffling them.

"Hey! Watch the hair." He grumbled, trying to shoo away the offending hand, while at the same time trying not to disturb Stitch, who was still comfortable on his lap.

Riku let out another round of laughter. "It's lighter than before." He whispered, as he began to finger a single spike.

"Oh, I think that's because of Roxas. Somehow when we were reconnected, I retained a few of his features. I didn't know until just a little while ago, when I battled him in front of that skyscraper, that he was my nobody." Sora refused to look at Riku, a little embarrassed, but for reasons other than his own stupidity.

"So, what happened there? I heard from the King that you just kind of disappeared, and then showed up again, panting like you just fought a thousand heartless." Riku looked over at his friend, interested in what had been happening to the keyblade master since they had last been together. After all, they were the best of friends, and although Riku had once sought to destroy Sora, the brunet had proved how deep their friendship ran when he chose to not return to their island, but to try and find a way to recover Riku from the darkness.

"I think that it all actually took place in my mind. He mentioned that he had only lost one other time, and that was to you. A lot of things went unspoken, but I can feel him now, now that I know of his existence. It's like he's always with me, right beneath the surface. I think that the other members of the organization could interact with him, because they always seemed to be talking to him, when I was battling them, and that there was a one sided conversation going on. And besides, it got really annoying how they all only called me Roxas." The brunet complained, but Riku could tell that it was half hearted.

"Seems that you've lead an interesting life." The silver haired teen smiled the first natural smile that he had felt in a long time. There was just something about the brunet sitting next to him that caused the corners of his mouth to turn up spontaneously.

Sora made a small grunting noise, neither confirming, nor denying Riku's statement. "Well, you have too, haven't you? Tell me, what was it like living in Ansem's, sorry, Xehanort's body for a year? That must have been really weird."

"You have no idea. But, to be able to do anything, I needed to be able to use the power of darkness to be able to help you, so as along as I didn't look in a mirror, I could almost forget that anything was different. But for the first little while, I just had this childish idea to, you know, mutilate his body, poke it, all those strange things you always try to do to someone else's body." Riku once again laughed, finding it to come easy to him for some reason. It was almost as if they were back on the island, before all of this happened. "Say, Sora, have you ever thought about not going back to the islands?"

"Sure I have. But really, where else could I go?" Sora shrugged, finally looking over at his best friend.

"Well, I'm sure that the king would let you live at his castle." He suggested.

"Nah, I'd just feel like I'd be in the way there. Everyone seems to have their own lives already there, and I'd just be intruding. The only place that I think that I might be able to live and not feel totally awkward would be Radiant Garden, but still, too much has happened for me to feel normal there." Sora replied, attempting to get Stitch to move, but receiving only a light growl from the alien, so he let him stay on his lap.

"It seems like it was only yesterday that we were building that raft, eager to get off of the islands and explore other worlds." Riku said, with a nostalgic tone to his voice.

"Yeah, it's hard to believe that that was nearly two years ago." The brunet agreed.

"But, it wouldn't have gone by so fast if you hadn't been so lazy and slept for a year." Riku chuckled, before dodging the pillow that Sora attempted to hit him with.

"Hey! It's not like I had a choice!" He exclaimed, before putting the pillow back behind his head and started to pout.

"I have never been as scared, as when I finally got to that room, and all I saw was you in this huge machine, looking like you were dead. I guess we both have had an interesting couple of years, haven't we?" Riku spoke in a very serious tone. "What about staying in Twilight Town? Then Roxas will be happy, because although he wouldn't physically be there with those other kids, he'd still get to see them."

Sora only shook his head again. "Nah, I don't want to be anywhere near that mansion ever again. I mean, those pods are still there. Not to mention the gateway to the darkness. Besides, I don't like being so close to here." The brunet waved his hand around, hoping that Riku caught his drift of what 'here' meant. "And, the fact that Axel disappeared in between this world and Twilight Town, makes Roxas very apprehensive of staying that close to there."

"Roxas and Axel were close, weren't they?"

"Yeah, about as close are we were, are, you know." Sora felt a blush creep up his cheek and desperately wished that he could turn the light off to hide the redness.

Riku just hummed in agreement before the two sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. The silver haired teen was the first to break it.

"Hey, Sora?" the older boy said, turning his head towards his friend.

"Yeah, Riku?"

"Remember the day before we left the island? How we went to my house before dinner?"

"Yeah, I remember, we had smoothies before dinner. My mom was so pissed." Sora smiled at the memory. "What about it?"

"Well, I lied to you." Riku hung his head, afraid to see Sora's reaction to his confession.

"Lied? About what?" If Sora hadn't been paying attention to his friend before, he was definitely paying attention now.

Still not looking up, Riku continued with his explanation. Sora deserved to know. "My mom was out of mango that day. So I used a different kind of fruit."

Sora stopped, mid scratch on Stitch's ear, knowing what Riku was getting at. It was almost as if the brunet knew what was coming out of the sliver haired teen's mouth before anyone said anything.

"Re… Really? What did you use?" he began to feel nervous, already knowing the answer, but needing to hear it from Riku's mouth.

"I only wanted to see if the legends were true, I didn't think too much else when I shared the papou fruit with you. I thought that I was losing you to Kairi, I didn't want our friendship to end because of a girl. You just seemed so interested in her." Riku felt ashamed, both of his selfishness, and guilt at not telling Sora about this earlier. He expected so much to happen right now, first in his mind being that he was going to find a keyblade pressed against his throat. Second, that Sora wouldn't wait to pull the power of the keyblade and would just use his fists as weapons. He definitely was not expecting the reaction that he did get from the younger brunet.

"You really can be stupid sometimes, Riku." Sora sat up and looked over at his childhood friend. When the older teen made to get off the bed and exit the room, Sora grabbed the silver haired boys arm. "Wait, don't you want to hear what I was going to say?"

Still seated on the bed, Riku tensed up at the innocence in Sora's voice. "What is there left to say?"

Sora took a deep breath before starting his explanation. "When I saw Kairi up there, I was relieved. I knew that she had been kidnapped by Axel, then Saix, but some how, I knew that she was going to be safe in the end. Yeah, I would look for her, but that wasn't my primary mission." Sora paused, making sure that he had the silver haired boy's attention, which he did. "It was to find out if you were okay. I voluntarily left Kairi that day when the connection between the worlds was severed. I could do absolutely nothing for you. I was worried. You were there when we were all reunited again. I was happy to see Kairi. But I could never explain what it felt like to see you again, even if it was in a different body. You were alive. You were actually there. I had so many emotions running through me, I know I cried. You were safe, you were there with me. Even though you didn't look like you, you were still you inside. And the sensations that I am still feeling with you being here can't be described. I missed you so much. And I know it wasn't because of some stupid fruit and a stupid story." Sora admitted, tears beginning to sting at the corners of his eyes. Cursing softly at the display of weakness, he raised his hand to wipe away the offending tears.

Sitting there in shock, Riku had no idea how to respond to his friend's confession. It took him completely by surprise. With a single move, Riku looked over and saw his best friend tearing up, and knew he had to do something. And he did the only thing he could think of. Wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, the two began to rock back and forth as the brunet silently let his tears slid down his face. "Shh. Don't worry. It'll all turn out okay."

They sat there for a long time, just doing that, Stitch sandwiched between them, making odd noises at the two boys, who completely ignored the strange creature.

"I… I'm sorry, Riku. I shouldn't be acting like that, but I'm just so stressed out right now." Sora whispered, pulling away from the comfort of Riku's arms. "This battle with Xemnas, going back to the island, all this shit is just not working to help me, not to mention that I can't seem to even turn off this fucking light so that I can get to sleep!"

Although it was odd to hear innocent little Sora cursing, Riku could understand where his friend was coming from. "The darkness is a scary place to be alone. Believe me, I know."

"Riku…" Sora trailed off, looking at his friend. "Maybe it won't be as hard if we weren't alone." His voice was quite, Riku almost didn't catch the meaning of the statement.

The silver haired boy just chuckled as he pulled down the covers and crawled under beside his best friend. "You're right, it is easier with someone else." With the simple statement, Riku leaned in and placed his lips on Sora's in a chaste kiss, but at the action, he startled his younger friend. The brunet sat there in shock, making no move to react to the kiss, other than to allow his eyes to slide closed. It was all he needed to confirm that Riku was really there, and not some stupid game his mind was playing with him.

With his lips distracting Sora, Riku reached around him and pulled the string on the light, darkness over taking them. It took Sora a moment to react to both the kiss and to the light, but when he did, he pulled away and looked at Riku, unable to see him.

"Let's go to sleep, Sora. Tomorrow is going to be a long day." The older boy whispered, wrapping his arm around Sora's waist. There was no sound, except that of Stitch trying to find a comfortable position between the two boys.

"Riku, thanks. For everything." Sora whispered, and it was the last sound that passed between the two of them until the steady sound of breathing calmed even the restless alien into a dreamless sleep.

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And here is the first chapter of my first KH story, yay! I hope everyone likes it! It's going to be probably 4 or 5 chapters long, but hey, you never know. And as for the Stitch insertion, I love that fuzzy blue guy (seriously, I think it borders on obsession when you can go a really good voice impression) and I just wanted to make a story that wasn't AU, not that there is anything wrong with AU's, but I wanted to see how this would turn out!

No promises when the next chapter will be out, I hope soon, but I think that there will be an update to my FFVIII story, Unforgotten Memories first. But maybe if people review, I'll be inspired to write faster…hint hint, lol.

Until next time, please Read and Review!


	2. Chapter 2

The Key To A Heart

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Disclaimer: I don't own these characters…except for 24 stuffed Stitch's, do they count? (I swear, they just keep multiplying on their own.)

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Chapter Two

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"I've got something you could never imitate, too." The brunet replied, leaning back into the sand with a smile playing on his lips.

"Don't you go and get all corny on me." The silver hair boy laughed, lightly punching his friend in the shoulder.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sora grumbled, rubbing his arm where the fist had landed, although it didn't hurt.

"Come on, Sora. I just pulled that line on you. If you said that I could never imitate having me as a friend either, it would just be the corniest thing you ever said! And that's saying something." The older boy felt relaxed here, the sound of the waves, just the two of them together, no heartless or nobodies trying to destroy the worlds. It was almost like they were the only two in existence, and to Riku, that was just fine.

Sora only pouted, though he really wasn't that upset. He was just glad that everything was now over. That Xemnas was really defeated. "Say, Riku. I've got a question."

Riku looked over at the brunet, slightly anxious with what the teen was going to ask him.

"Sure, what is it?" he asked, an indifferent look on his face, hiding the panic the silver haired teen felt fall over him. He just knew that Sora was going to ask about the kiss last night, and in all honesty, Riku wasn't sure that he was ready to answer that question just yet.

"What is your wrist sleeve thingy covering? Are you hurt?" the overly cute worried expression on Sora's face was priceless to Riku. "Cause I think that my magic is restored enough that I can heal you again. I know that you ran out of healing items in the last battle. I don't want you to lose your hand or anything because I forgot to heal you or something silly like that. I'd never forgive myself if I let that happen! Come on, let me see it, I want to make sure that you are okay." The younger brunet reached over and grabbed the covered wrist, attempting to pull the covering off of Riku's hand.

"Sora, stop please." Riku whispered, an odd tone apparent in his voice, as he tried to pull his hand away from the persistent boy.

"But Riku…" he whined, still concerned for his friend. The silver haired boy held up his right hand to silence the boy.

"I'm not hurt. Don't worry about it. It was something that happened while you were sleeping. I still have all use of my hand, see?" to prove his point, Riku raised his left hand and wiggled his fingers in front of Sora's face.

"Then what happened to it?" the boy was so innocent, Riku wasn't sure if he wanted to taint him with the information that he had in his possession. But with everything that they just went through together, Riku felt that he owed his best friend an at least an explanation.

Letting out a sigh, the silver haired boy pulled his arm up to his chest, before removing the small covering. Keeping his hand close to his chest, he looked over once more at his friend.

"You're the first person to see this other than me. Not even the King or DiZ has seen this. I'm a bit ashamed of it, but at the same time, it's one of the best things that I have ever had." Riku wasn't sure if he was talking more to himself or to Sora, but with one small glance, he knew that Sora was worried about him, which made it all worth it to share this secret with him.

Sora cocked his head to the side, a little confused at Riku's actions. How could you like something that you were ashamed of? "Riku, you know you can tell me anything, right?" Sora whispered, afraid to break the mood if he had spoken any louder.

"I know." The silver haired teen replied, then slowly pulled his hand away from his chest. This was his biggest secret, and once he let Sora know about it, he would never be able to hide it again. But Sora was his closest friend, and if he didn't let the brunet know now, he may never have the nerve to show anyone again.

Sora sat there, looking over as his best friend, now scared out of worry for Riku. With the way that the sliver haired teen was hesitating, it only made his concern grow. So as soon as Riku's arm was even a little bit away from his chest, Sora shot his own hand out and grabbed the unwrapped wrist and pulled it towards his own.

"I'm not going to judge you on whatever happened, Riku, I just want to help you. And I can't help you if you don't let me see whatever is wrong." Sora whispered, not looking down at the hand in his grasp, but at Riku, his cobalt eyes peering deep into his friends aquamarine depths. With that single look, Riku knew that he was doing the right thing.

"Thanks, Sora." He whispered, not knowing how best to described his emotions of relief that he was feeling at the moment. He then allowed the brunet to turn over his wrist and the younger boy gasped at the sight that came with the movement.

There on the pale skin were markings, all of which Sora recognized. The largest was a burn right into the skin, that charred the skin in the shape of the heartless insignia. A deep red, the markings deeply embedded in the skin, Sora was afraid to ask how the marking got there. Imposed on top was an actual tattoo, one of the crown symbol that Sora had adopted as being his own over the years. It obscured the middle of the heartless insignia, and made Sora question the importance of the placement of the crown. The final markings though, were the ones that Sora was most curious about.

"You tried to kill yourself?" the brunet whispered, lightly running his gloved fingers over the trio of scars. The silver haired teen shuttered at the feeling of the ghostly touch in such a sensitive spot.

"After I accepted the darkness, and battled with Roxas, I felt so lonely, nothing could help. I wanted to be back on the island with you, with everyone. I would sit for hours, just staring at you asleep in the pod, wishing that you were awake, that you would show that you were still alive, that you were still you. Not like me. If you woke up, you wouldn't have even recognized me. Look what happened when you saw me first with Kairi. You thought I was an enemy. It wasn't until you looked at me through your heart, that you saw that it was really me."

"Riku…" Sora trailed off, taking the bare hand into his own and squeezing slightly in a sign of comfort. He never knew that his best friend went through such a hard period.

"Let me finish, please." The older boy whispered, squeezing the hand back, but not removing it from the brunet's grip. "For those long days, sitting there in a body that wasn't mine, knowing that you would want to kill me on sight, I thought a lot. So much stuff was happening around me, I went into a deep depression. DiZ knew that something was up, but he just kept assigning me small missions. Then there was one day, when the monitors failed, and it looked like you were dying. I just couldn't handle that thought. I went off into the darkness, and that's when I did it. Over the symbol that I hated so much about myself. Ansem had that symbol tattooed everywhere. I have no idea why this one chose to stay after I regained my own form. Anyway, of all the people to find me, it was Axel"

"Axel, as in number VIII of the Organization?" Sora asked in slight disbelief.

Riku nodded. "He wasn't as bad the rest of them. Oddly enough, I formed a slight kinship with him. You see, we were both losing someone that we cared a lot for."

Sora paused, still looking at the markings on Riku's wrist. The silence continued for a few minutes before the younger brunet looked up once again at his best friend, and asked the final question that was on his mind.

"But what is with my crown?" he whispered, and if the silver haired teen hadn't been looking right at his best friend, he probably wouldn't have heard him. This was the part that Riku was the most reluctant to answer. It was going to reveal a lot more to Sora than he wanted, but felt he indeed owed his best friend a final explanation.

"Because I always wanted to be able to remember you. With Naminé playing with our memories like that, I didn't want to lose sight of you in my mind. So I had this done in Port Royal, soon after the complete transformation into Xehonart's heartless. It was the only thing that I had that reminded me of who I really was."

Sora took a deep breath and wrapped both arms around his best friend in a comforting hug. "If it makes you feel any better, I never forgot who you were. I could never forget you, Riku." The brunet was still whispering as he tilted his head up and softly pressed his lips against those of his surprised best friend.

The silver haired teen allowed the smaller boy to kiss him for a moment before responding with gusto. The older teen increased the pressure passing between the two of them, tasting the slight taste of cinnamon that he had labelled as 'Sora' some time in the past. The taste was tantalizing for him, a forbidden flavour that he was never suppose to get a sample of. But with the younger boy wrapping his arms around his neck, Riku knew that his waiting for a taste of his best friend had come to an end.

Riku's eyes slid closed, wanting to focus his senses on Sora, needing to feel him and taste him more than see him. And within moments of cutting his vision off, he was rewarded with the feeling of a small pink tongue outlining the shape of his own lips.

A deep moan erupted from somewhere far inside Riku as he parted his lips and gave the explorative tongue the access it so desperately wanted. As soon as the two organs collided in an erotic dance of passion, Riku felt something travel through him. It wasn't darkness, or light, he knew what those felt like, but this feeling was completely new to him.

A gasp from Sora as they pulled away somewhat for a bit of oxygen was enough for Riku to confirm that his best friend had felt it too. He wasn't allowed to dwell on these thoughts before Sora slammed himself back up against the silver haired teen and their mouths found one another immediately. Without any hesitation, Riku opened his lips to allow Sora instant access to the warm haven that he was seeking. With the deft organ invading the foreign area, Riku allowed his hand to ride up Sora's back from where he had unconsciously wrapped them, only to find a home buried deep in the chocolate coloured spikes. The hair was smooth and silky, not hard with product like most people imagined, and the feeling that it created between Riku's bare hands was as much of a turn on as the kiss itself.

Sora let out another light moan as Riku forced the duelling tongues back into the younger boy's mouth, wanting to exact his dominance over his best friend. Many thoughts were running through Sora's head as they continued their kiss. The least important of those were that he was kissing his best friend. His male best friend at that.

"Riku…" Sora breathed out as Riku pulled away once more.

"Yeah?" he chuckled, seeing the wanton look on Sora's innocent face.

"I, um, I'm not sure." Sora laughed, reaching his hand up and scratching the back of his head.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable now that we've kissed not once, but twice, and you've been in love with Kairi your whole life?" Riku asked, just needing to know what Sora was thinking.

"I've never been in love with Kairi. I thought we talked about that last night." The brunet whispered, leaning back on his hands again, looking up at the dark sky. The grey clouds floating along, completely unaware of the inner turmoil the boy sitting beneath there. "Kairi will never be anything more than my best friend. I know that everyone expected us to end up together, but I could never see myself with her in anyway more than friends."

The silence that had been haunting the two teens since they had been reunited once again reared it head, and once more, Riku recalled many times that they had been in the same position back on their island. The only difference was the colour of the water, as well as there were no shore birds calling.

"What about me?" The words left Riku before he could stop himself.

"What about you?" Sora replied, a little confused.

"Am I doomed to never be more than your best friend, Sora? Or after everything that you have just told me, did you want to take it to the next level?" the tone of Riku's voice told the younger teen that the answer was going to effect their friendship for the rest of their lives.

"Do you want to be more than friends, Riku? Cause didn't you start both the kisses?" Sora grinned, pushing Riku's arm softly.

"I think it's was more one and one." Riku replied with a laugh, before returning the shove.

"Meh, who's counting?" Sora's grin was infectious, and in a moment, Riku had a wide grin on his face as well.

"You were, you little brat. So, where does this leave us?" Riku knew that the real smile had felt good, but he had to know where Sora sat on this issue.

Sora once again leaned back on his hands, looking up at the sky with a thoughtful look on his face. "Well, I already told you how I feel about you being back. But why is this only up to me? Don't your feelings have anything to do with this? Cause no matter how I feel, I need to know how you feel too."

"Isn't it obvious?" Riku scoffed. Leave it to Sora to be that clueless.

"Obvious? What do you mean?" Sora cocked his head to the side as he looked over at his silver haired friend.

Riku just shook his head as he let out a slight breath of air. "Come on. How many people do you think would throw themselves into the way of a crazed nobody wielding a pair of glowing red light swords, not to mention take on the appearance of their mortal enemy, just for a friend. You can be so blind, you know?"

Sora thought about what the silver haired boy was saying, and then looked at the wrist covering that was sitting in the sand between them. That sparked an image of what was on the other side of Riku's wrist to come to mind. His crown. Over everything that was darkness, there was a light for Riku to follow. To remind him of the way out of darkness. It hit Sora then, that he was Riku's light.

"How long?" Sora whispered. He felt a little embarrassed that he never noticed that Riku had felt that way about him.

"I think I noticed once the King and I locked ourselves inside Kingdom Hearts and you promised that you would come back for me even after I tried to kill you several times. But in all honesty, I couldn't even fathom how long I've felt this way."

Sora said nothing as he picked up the material and looked closely at it. A little bit of blood stained a part of it, and he was thrown back into a memory of the two of them sitting in a position exactly the same as this, before Kairi entered their lives. And they had promised each other that they would be together forever.

"Riku…" Sora trailed off, clutching the cloth tightly in his hand.

"Yeah?" the older boy answered, looking over at Sora,

"I don't think I can go back." The statement was spoken so quietly that Riku almost didn't hear him.

"Go back where?" Riku looked over at his friend, only to see an odd look on Sora's face. It looked as if he was pained, and Riku swore that he could see tears welling up in the corners of the brunet's eyes.

Sora let out a deep sigh, then used the cover to wipe his eyes. "I can't go back to the islands. I can't deal with how the other people will see me. Besides, I've spent the majority of the last two years travelling with a giant dog and duck. I just want to lay low and live a normal life. Not what I have been doing for the last two years. I want to be a normal teenager for a little while again."

Riku got a little smile on his face as Sora spoke. He had meant to tell Sora this a little later, after they had gotten back to the island and the depression had really set in.

"You don't have to go back. Not for long anyway. I already talked to the king. Even though the worlds are no longer connected, he is going to clear the way for you and I to live in Radiant Garden." Riku told the brunet, waiting to see the expression on his face at the realization of the words.

"You and I?" he spoke slowly, and slowly but surely, the meaning of the words dawned on him. "Both of us? Together?"

Riku nodded. "I have been living in darkness for too long. I can't face anyone from before. Everything will seem so meaningless. Fighting on the beach with Tidus, Wakka and Selphie? It just wouldn't be the same. I don't even think that if we get back to the island, I will even go see my parents. At least if you go, you can say that you were saving dozens of words, where as I can say that I kidnapped the adopted daughter of the mayor, tried to destroy said worlds, and allowed darkness into my heart enough to change my appearance. You think that I can go back to the normalcy of everyday life of the islands?"

"Point taken." Sora smiled, leaning his head against Riku's shoulder. "I guess you probably want this back, don't you." The smaller brunet lifted the cloth covering over to his best friends, and the silver haired boy nodded, before taking the wrist cover and slipping it on.

"Thanks." Riku smiled, placing a single kiss on Sora's forehead. "So, have you decided what will happen between us?"

The brunet felt a blush creeping up on his face, and he knew he had been avoiding answering the question. "Um, well. I don't know. I really think that it could work out with us."

"So do I, Sora. So do I." The two of them sat like that for a little while, Sora curled up against Riku's side, just listening to the waves, content in knowing that they were sitting there together and alive.

"So we're going to live in Radiant Garden?" Sora's voice held the smile that was apparent on his face.

"Yup. The king just has to clear it with Leon, Merlin and Princess Aurora. I guess that she has taken over the throne, seeing as DiZ, I mean Ansem has disappeared, and her world has never re-appeared. Besides, Leon refuses to take over complete leadership of the world." Riku squeezed Sora's shoulder, quickly growing accustomed to the feel of the smaller brunet close to him.

"You sure have kept up to date on everything, despite what all was going on." Sora chuckled, slowly pulling away from the older teen.

"I had a moment to talk to the king when we were at the final rest. He told me all this after I asked him about getting us clearance to live in Radiant Garden. Donald and Goofy were talking to Kairi, so I had a few moments of privacy while you checked your inventory." Riku shrugged.

"Oh my god!" Sora sat up straight in an abrupt manner, startling Riku.

"Sora? What's wrong?" Riku's voice failed to hide the panic that he refused to display on his outward appearance.

"Kairi. What is she going to think now that we are, you know, together? More than likely she has a vision of her and I ending up together. After seeing all the happy endings in the worlds that we were in, she is probably expecting one of her own. Besides, I promised her that no matter what I would return her lucky charm. You know what girls are like, they twist your words so that you are their boyfriend when you are only saying something like you will go get them a drink." Sora began to ramble, causing Riku to chuckle.

"I think that she'll understand." Riku replied, calmly.

"What about the fact that all the other princesses of heart got their happily ever after? What about her? I feel almost rotten that I won't be able to help her achieve hers. I mean, look when we all met up again. The first thing that she did was give me a hug. It felt so strange, and I didn't know what to think about it. Then again when we were with Roxas and Naminé, Kairi promised them that we would be together every day. Now I feel guilty because now I think that I am breaking a promise to not only one person, but three. Even though Roxas and Naminé no longer have a physical body, I know that they are there, right underneath the surface. They'll know. Kairi completely believes that we're destined to live happily ever after, just like everyone else." With his rant over, Sora fell forward, his arms resting on his legs, and he took a moment to hyperventilate, too many things going through his head at the moment.

"You have to relax Sora." Riku whispered, rubbing Sora's back, in hopes to calm him down a little. It really hurt him to see his best friend, now his boyfriend, in such a position. "Kairi is not quite as naïve as you think that she it. I think that deep down, as much as she wants the two of you to run off into the sunset together, she knows that it will never be a reality. Besides, you've known me for years, and when have I ever been good at sharing." The last comment caused Sora to smile again,

"Thanks, Riku. I really am glad you are back. I really couldn't have defeated Xemnas without your help. You saved my ass so many times back there. I just wanted to say thank you." Sora spoke softly before leaning over and giving Riku a soft kiss, pulling away before the silver haired boy could turn it into anything deeper.

"You're welcome, Sora." Sora's smile had effectively transferred over to Riku, and that caused the brunet's smile to grow. They returned to the welcoming silence, each with a grin on their face, staring up at the grey skies, and content in just being in one another's company. Because even if it was just for a few stolen moments, they were Riku and Sora, not warriors of the keyblades, not denizens of the light, not traitors to the darkness. Just Riku and Sora, friends all their lives, hoping to be something more in the future. And just sitting there listening to the waves and looking up into the bleak and bleary clouds, neither teen would change it for all the worlds.

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First and for most, Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. With the amount I have been working lately, I am surprised I have even enough time to breathe.

Thanks so much to everyone for all the support! I've had half of this chapter written for a long time, and I just couldn't seem to get passed one part. But thanks to all the great support that everyone has supplied me with, I was able to work passed it. I think I like how this has turned out, I hope everyone else likes it too.

And if my wonderful beta, elichi is reading this, please email me! I'm in desperate need of your help! Or, if there is anyone else out there that might be interested in being a beta for me, please email me, or leave a message in your review. In the meantime, thanks to awesome twins who edit things they don't understand!

No promises when the next chapter will be out, but I have an idea, and that will put the story at about two more chapters. I also have another KH story in the works right now, as well as a never ending oneshot for FFVIII. But I will try and get another chapter of this out as soon as possible. Until next time: Read, Review and Recycle!


	3. Chapter 3

The Key To A Heart

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Disclaimer: I don't own these characters…except for 26 stuffed Stitch's, do they count? (I get to blame the new two on my boyfriend!)

Warning: There is some Kairi bashing in this chapter, so anyone who may get offended by that, please note, you have been warned, please no flames!

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Chapter Three

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"Sora! Riku!" the silver haired teen inwardly cringed when he heard the unmistakable voice of his long-time friend. Sora had just given him a smile worthy of a kiss when Kairi had to interrupt the moment. Riku lifted his head and looked over to see Kairi running over the bridge connecting Papou Island to the rest of the shore.

"Hey, what's up?" Sora answered, completely oblivious to Riku's train of thought as Kairi bent over in front of the pair, trying to catch her breath.

"Look." Was the only word to fall from her lips and she held out her hand, revealing a bottle. A bottle with a letter inside of it. Riku's heart began to flutter when he saw the King's seal on the paper, and he wondered if it might be the letter that they had been hoping for over the past two days.

Although they were glad to be home again, neither Riku nor Sora had been able to gather the courage needed to leave the play island that they had found themselves on after emerging from the door to light. They had been staying in the old shack, and Kairi had effectively kept the other kids away from the island, giving Riku and Sora both some privacy. What she hadn't known was that they had been using the alone time to discuss and explore their new relationship a little.

"From The King?" Sora questioned, pulling the stopper out of the bottle and shaking the paper out as fast as he could. He felt excited at the thought of the king responding so fast. Before the three companions had left, King Mickey had told Riku and Sora in private that he would talk to Aurora as fast as possible to get the answers he needed, and because the doors between Disney Castle and Radiant Garden had opened before the heartless had abused them, they should still be connected.

The brunet could feel the eyes of the other two reading over his shoulder, so he didn't bother reading out loud the message, and as soon as he finished reading the fairly short letter, he wish he had read it to Kairi.

"What's this about? Sora? Riku? Is there something that you aren't telling me about?" the hurt shone through Kairi's voice, and the tone went right to Sora's heart.

"I'm sorry, Kairi. You should have known that neither of us would have been able to go back to a normal life here on the island." Sora told the redhead as gently as he could. But the look in her violet eyes told him the true feelings she was having about this.

"You two weren't the only ones to visit other worlds. You should have known that if either of you went, I'd want to go with you!" Kairi stomped her feet in annoyance, clenching her fists as she did so, giving her the appearance of a five year old. "Besides, Sora, if you two leave, you'll be breaking the promises that we made to each other and to Roxas and Naminé. You can't do that to them!"

Sora winced at the girls words; he couldn't deny that this was exactly how he thought that she would react. "But you weren't gone as long as us, Kairi. Riku and I have been gone for almost two years, so much has happened to us." He knew that arguing with Kairi was not the best way to go about clearing things up.

"For fuck's sake, Sora. I'm a princess and I never knew about that! And on top of that, I can use a keyblade now too. Not to mention that I feel like I've got another person sharing my body at all times now too. And Radiant Garden of all places? That's _**my **_home world, remember? If anyone from this island should be able to go live somewhere else, it should be me!" tears began to fall from Kairi's eyes, and Riku let out a soft sigh.

"Can it, Kairi. We don't need your sob story." He said, turning away from the hysterical girl, only to look at Sora. The brunet had a pained expression on his face, and Riku knew that it was hard for his boyfriend to see one of their closest friends in anguish, but she was going too far.

"Riku, you're so heartless!" Kairi cried, before clasping her hands over her mouth. Riku got a strange look on his face, before diving off the side of Papou Island and swimming back over to shore. Sora could only watch as the silver hair faded off into the distance before disappearing close to the shack they had set up camp in.

"Sora, I didn't mean to say that! Why is Riku so touchy about that anyway?" the redhead asked the brunet, calming down quickly as she saw how hurt her friend was at her words.

"Think about it, Kairi. I was turned into a heartless in front of Riku, he was in the body of the man who tried to destroy the worlds using heartless, and he's only just lost the darkness that has been inside him for a long time. Of course he's upset that you called him that." Sora shrugged, still holding onto the paper that granted him and Riku passage to another world. "Besides, you're not the only one that is sharing their body with someone else. Roxas is with me just as much as Naminé is with you."

Kairi flushed a little at her selfishness, before sliding down the trunk of the tree. "I guess he has a reason for storming off like that."

"Yeah. And think about how happy you have been here on the island for the past year and a bit since you returned. Riku and I could never have that again. I don't even know if my parents remember me. Riku has been living in the darkness too long, and really, he was never happy here anyway." Sora sat down beside Kairi, as much as he wanted to follow after Riku, he knew that the silver haired teen needed some privacy to tackle his demons.

"But Sora…you promised." Kairi whispered, somewhat knowing that she was arguing a losing battle.

Sora sighed. How could he explain this to her without completely breaking her heart? Just because he wasn't going to be her prince charming, it didn't give him the right to hurt her even more. "I know I promised. But, there really is no other way." The brunet was whispering, afraid that if he spoke any louder, that Kairi would lose it all over again, then he would be right back to square one.

"Why haven't either of you said anything about this before? Riku talked about coming back to the island so much when he was in Ansem's body. How that no matter what he looked like, he would still be himself. And then just before I went through that last dark portal, both of you seemed excited to get back here. What could have changed in that short of a period?" Kairi's voice once again broke with tears; the thought of her two best friends leaving her for good so soon after getting reunited was a tough blow.

With another short puff of breath, Sora attempted to get his thoughts in order to break the news off to Kairi. And also, how much exactly would he tell her? Should he tell her every reason why neither he nor Riku could be her prince charming, or leave some of the details to her imagination. Sitting back on his hands, Sora looked up at the salmon coloured sky. The sun was nearly gone behind the horizon now, and the colour began to bleed into the water, giving the horizon a supernatural glow.

"That night we spent in that abandoned building, Riku and I finally had some time to catch up and talk about…" Sora paused, not sure if he felt comfortable telling Kairi the status of his sexuality. "Well, we talked about a little of everything, really. And think about it, not only have we been gone for two years, but most people don't even remember me. How would you feel going up to your parents for the first time in forever, only to get a blank look? I don't think I could handle it."

"But people are starting to remember! Selphie almost remembered your name before Axel kidnapped me. And no one actually forgot Riku, so why is he so scared to come back?" Kairi leaned forward, and started to draw a design in the sand. Her depression was apparent in her voice, and it was all Sora could do not to reach over to her and try and make everything better. But if he did that now, he would never get it through to her that they were just not meant to be.

"Kairi, please understand. Riku is in a very delicate situation right now. It's been only a couple of days that he's been back in his own body, you know? Besides, he wasn't always on the side of light while we were gone. The darkness is still within him. It's just not the most powerful right now." Sora explained to her, watching carefully at what she was drawing the in sand. It was a papou fruit.

'_Stupid islands and their stupid myths.'_ Sora thought to himself. _'Glad that I'll be getting off them soon. Only two more days and then Riku and I will be official residents of Radiant Garden.'_

"You're totally skirting around the question, Sora." Kairi growled, quickly getting to her feet. The innocence that she normally held was not there in the least bit. "The three of us have always been together! First just as friends, then as the only ones from this island to visit other world, now the three of us are keyblade masters together! Why can't it be like that?" Her words caused something in Sora's mind to spark to life, and as he rose to his feet, he knew that it might be the only way to prove his point to the redhead.

"Draw your keyblade, then Kairi." Sora hung his head to the ground, reaching his right arm out and allowing his keyblade to appear in one of his favourite forms, Oblivion.

Stunned at the request, Kairi just stared at her best friend standing there in front of her, his weapon drawn. "Sora?" Sora refused to look up at her calls, and he continued to stand there in that position, waiting for her to draw her blade. Kairi just stared in silence for a few more moments before she understood that he would not be moving until she pulled her keyblade into her hand from where ever it came from. Holding her hand out, she thought hard about it appearing, and when that didn't work, she tried imagining what it had felt like in her hand. Once again, the mysterious blade refused to answer her calls and would not appear.

"Why? But I was using it the other day just fine!" Kairi's voice wavered with unshed tears. She turned back to Sora, only to see that his keyblade had disappeared once more, and he was looking at her with a slight look of pity on his face. "Why? What did I do? Why can't I make mine appear too?"

"Do you know where the keyblade comes from, Kairi?" his voice was soft, and was tight with emotion, but the reassurance that Kairi needed was not there.

"What does that have to do with any of this?" She stomped her foot once more, and Sora was starting to get annoyed with how childishly she was taking the situation.

"Everything, Kairi. Absolutely everything." Sora replied, before taking a deep breath. "The keyblades come from within our hearts. That's why as soon as someone else takes our keyblades, they always come right back to their owners. Because they are a part of that person. Kind of like when your heart was locked within mine. But we are able to pull that energy into a weapon. But when a heart is shrouded in darkness, you are unable to pull that energy. That means that no matter what, you won't be able to drawn your keyblade."

"I still don't see what this has to do with my keyblade."

Sora ran a hand through his hair once again, trying not to get frustrated with the girl standing in front of him. "Just keep listening. While in Ansem's body, Riku was unable to use the keyblade. And Castle Oblivion just did fucked up things to everyone. But didn't you notice that as soon as little parts of the real Riku began to show through the façade, he began to use the Way to the Dawn? The darkness was lifting off of him. He's always had the ability to use the keyblade, his heart has always been strong enough. It just was clouded over with darkness. When the darkness began to leave, his ability returned."

"Just get on with it please!" Kairi demanded, getting a little impatient, and very pissed off at her friend.

"Fine. Jealously is a type of Darkness, Kairi. That's why when I was in Hollow Bastion that first time, I was jealous of Riku being able to be with you, so I lost my keyblade. He told me that he was the true keyblade master, that I was just the delivery boy, but that was completely untrue. He got it through his dark powers he had at the time. His heart wasn't completely lost then. Anyway, whatever. You're jealous, Kairi. Admit it. There is darkness in your heart right now, and it is because it is what Riku and I are going to share without you." It pained Sora to tell her this way, but with the way that she had been acting, this was the only way that he was going to get through.

Kairi stopped immediately at Sora's words, and grew utterly anger with him. "There is no darkness in my heart! I am a princess of heart! I can't have darkness in me!" With each comment she began to cry a little more, and by the end of her rant, she had completely broken down and had fallen to her knees.

"Kairi, can't you understand that Riku and I want to have some time just to be who we want to be? Not who we have to be, or who others want us to be. Just to be us. We just want to spend the time together, and see what we have missed over the past two years. Right now, Riku and I are in the same situation, we're the only ones who understand each other." Sora knelt down beside, placing a hand on her shoulder for comfort, though he knew that it was probably do little good. Kairi was pissed off. And when Kairi got pissed off, it was normally better to stay out of the way.

"You make it sound like you are sleeping with him, Sora." She snarled, brushing his hand away from her. The redhead then turned to her childhood friend and sent a cold glare at his that froze Sora all the way through. He was so surprised at her comment, as well as her tone of voice that he didn't reply to the comment. Unfortunately, Sora's lack of response was exactly what Kairi was expecting. "Fine, so that's how it is, is it? You guys didn't want me to get hurt because I've been in love with you both all my life, huh? You figured that it would be better if you two just moved away, to have all the ass sex you could ever want, and I would never know the difference because I was worlds away, right?" Kairi's face showed her anger, and it was a sight he thought he would never see.

A princess of heart with her face so contorted in darkness that she was almost unrecognizable.

Sora replaced his hand, feeling as if he needed to maintain the contact to comfort her. "Kairi, you have to understand. Riku told me that he has had these feelings for a long time. And I have them too. We aren't naïve little boys any more, we're experienced, but at the same time, we are completely innocent. We lost two years of our lives, Kairi. You got to have that time to grow. Riku and I didn't. He was stuck in his enemy's body, and I woke up in an unfamiliar body too. Don't you see? We have a connection, one that we don't want broken, ever." Sora knew explaining things to the red head would do little, but he still had to try. His hand was pushed off her shoulder and she turned her whole body away from him.

"Fuck you, Sora." She whispered, her voice so quiet that Sora had to strain to hear it. He was hurt by her words, but was totally drained from trying to reason with her, so Sora decided to leave the rest for the morning. He would try to get her to understand their reasoning the next day, there was nothing more that he was willing to try tonight. The sun was almost fully gone now, and the only light was coming from the moon and a small camp fire on the beach, where Riku must have started cooking some food for the two of them.

As Sora began to walk away, Kairi realized that her tactic was not working and she had to come up with another plan and fast. If she was going to make her own happily ever after, she would have to resort to drastic measures. Without another thought, the redhead burst into tears, and just as she hoped, Sora stopped walking away from her and turned back.

"Sora, I feel so awful! You must hate me!" She wailed, shrouding her face with her hands, and she felt the recognizable weight of Sora's hand resting once again on her shoulder.

"I could never hate you, Kairi. Just like I could never hate Riku. The two of you will always be my best friends. It doesn't matter who we are or aren't dating, or what worlds we live in. We're always going to be best friends." He whispered, pulling the hysteric girl into a hug and allowing her to weep relentlessly on his shoulder.

Kairi lifted her head after a few minutes and sniffed the rest of her tears away. "All I wanted to do was make Naminé and Roxas happy. I wanted to be able to give them back what they had, even if they would have to live it out through our bodies."

That comment shot right through Sora like a dart. What Roxas and Naminé had? As far as Sora knew, the two were only ever friends, even during their days with Organization XIII, before Roxas mutinied and went to Twilight town. Kairi was trying to play him for a fool! And he had almost bought it. Sora was losing his respect for the girl who was clinging to him like he was a life support, and as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn't sure if he was going to miss her now or not. But if he was leaving, he was going to go with a proverbial bang.

"And what kind of relationship was that now, Kairi?" he asked in a very whimsical tone, hoping that she wasn't going to catch on to the fact that he was now on to her.

"They were really close; Roxas had even promised that he would marry her when they were older. Naminé has told me all this through my dreams. I think that if you left, Sora, you'd feel the pain that Roxas would have felt losing Naminé. Even if they are no longer their own entities, they still deserve a small chance at happiness, right Sora?" Kairi lifted her violet eyes to Sora's, and it scared the brunet at how sincere she looked right now. If he hadn't known better, he would have bought it hook, line and sinker.

"That's not true!" A memorable voice came from somewhere, causing Sora to jump away from Kairi, who at the moment resembled a deer caught in headlights. A flash of blond hair passed in front of him, and Sora knew at that moment that Naminé was going to have her say in the matter. What worried him was that Roxas would want his say, and Sora wasn't sure what would happen if they were to separate again.

"What was that?" Kairi's voice now trembled with fear, and she fell back onto her backside, trying to crawl away from everything that was going on here. It was all just a little too far out of her league to understand. As Kairi began to back up, a bright light shone out, causing Sora to lift his arm up and shield his eyes.

As the brunet eased his eyes open once again, he was greeted by a not entirely surprising sight. There, standing in front of Kairi was her nobody, slightly transparent, clad in the same white dress and sandals that everyone associated with the blonde girl.

"Hi, Naminé. How are you?" Sora said with a smile, before feeling a strange rumbling in his stomach. "Roxas is coming out too. Hold on." He told the two girls, before closing his eyes and holding out his arms. It was a strange feeling, a nobody being born without the creation of a heartless, but at the same time, it felt completely natural, as if they were meant to be able to do this.

The next thing that happened was as odd a feeling as anything that had ever come to pass. Sora watched as his nobody walked casually from his body, as transparent as Naminé. The blond boy went and stood beside the blonde girl, and gave her a small smile.

"Hi, Naminé. Long time no see." Roxas said, giving her wave.

"It really hasn't been that long, Roxas." She giggled, cocking her head to one side.

"What the fuck is going on?" Kairi demanded, finally making her way back to her feet. The redhead glared at the newly formed nobodies, but both blondes just ignored her and turned to face the brunet.

"Sora, I think that you've been having some dreams of my memories lately." Roxas grinned while saying this, and Sora knew right away exactly what dreams that he was talking about. This caused a slight crimson colour to take over his normally pale cheeks.

"Oh, are they the good ones that he used to tell me about?" Naminé exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm for Roxas' liking, clasping her hands together in front of her.

Roxas just nodded in response. "Kairi is lying to you, Sora. I think that you may have already figured that out. Naminé and I were never more that best friends. I never promised to marry her or any of that stuff that she was claiming."

"Roxy and I were only good friends. There was someone else that had already captured his heart long before he ever met me." Naminé looked so serene whenever she spoke; it was hard to imagine that she was the nobody of the girl standing right behind her. The look on Kairi's face had gone completely from scared and confused to downright pissed off and ready to kill at a moments notice.

"I knew that in a way. I think that is also the reason why I could never be more than friends with Kairi." Sora added, then continued as to put his own fears to rest. "Are the two of you okay with me going to live in Radiant Garden? I mean, I promised you not that long ago that you two would be able to see each other every day. Now only a couple of days later, I am breaking that promise."

"But Sora, you weren't the one to promise that. Kairi was. You only agreed." Naminé pointed out, never losing her smile. "You were reluctant to do so as well. Besides, we don't need to see each other to know that we care about one another. We'll always have our memories. The good ones…"

"…And the bad ones." Roxas finished off her sentence, looking down at his left hand. "I will always have these bands as well. One from you and one from him." With those words, Roxas clenched his hand into a fist, before looking up directly at Sora. "You should never be without the one you love. Especially if he is as important to you as Axel is to me."

"What, is the whole world gay now?" Kairi growled, feeling the need to make her presence known once again. She was getting really mad now, the fact that _**her**_ nobody was siding with someone else was not going over too well with her.

"But Roxas is Sora's nobody. And the fact that Sora has always been in love with Riku somewhat manifested itself in Roxas. But because Riku never had a nobody, Roxas found a substitute. And the closest he got was Axel. But that bond that they made was very strong. So strong that Sora could feel it when he met Axel, and that's why when Axel faded away, he did so happily. He could feel Roxas' love through Sora. Sora's bond with Riku is as strong, if not stronger than that. That's why Sora only had to close his eyes to see Riku through the darkness. I was the one who had to show you, through my powers of darkness. I'm sorry, Kairi. But you and Sora were never meant to be together." Naminé tried to tell the redhead as gently as possible, but knew deep inside that it was useless. Her next actions would only confirm that.

"I hope you both rot in hell, Sora!" Kairi screamed, turning and running away from Sora and the two nobodies.

Naminé slowly started to fade away, but the smile never left her face. "Sora, I forgive you. Do what you must to ensure that you are happy. Roxy, I'll never forget you. Don't forget me." She smiled with a small wave, before disappearing completely, leaving Sora standing there speechless.

"Don't forget to look sharp." Roxas grinned, startling Sora. "And grow a backbone. None of this would have happened if you had just sucked it up and admitted that you liked Riku before everything happened."

The brunet just laughed at his nobodies comments, before offering up his own. "Just be sure never to pop out like this when Riku and I are getting busy, alright?"

This time it was the blonds turn to laugh. "No promises there. I really mean it when I say that you make a good other." And with that fleeting comment, a bright blue light flashed as Roxas stepped towards Sora, disappearing to that place only he knew about deep within Sora's soul.

"So do you, Roxas." Sora whispered, knowing that Roxas would be able to hear him.

* * *

What's this???? An update that didn't take four months? What is this world coming to?? Anyways, so here is the next chapter! I really like the end result of this chapter, and who knows, maybe I'll be able to stretch another two out of this plot. I'm planning on at least one more; the only problem will be to get it done. Work is still hectic as always, not to mention having a hard time medically. I swear, I'm going to go live in a bubble, but my luck, I'd be allergic to the bubble.

And here is the normal begging for a new beta, please? Anyone? I give out free hugs and lots of praise, as well as lots of cookies! Twin is so confused, she's never played the games and I just keep adding new elements and she is getting sick of having me explain every little detail to her. Please, help me put her out of her misery!

Alrighty then, no promises when the next chapter will be out, a lot depends on if I decide to go with one or two more chapters. Let's just see how much I can stretch the plot out before it breaks. I might put out the first chapter of my new story, but we'll see. Until next time, please read, review and recycle! Ta-ta!


	4. Chapter 4

The Key To A Heart

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Chapter Four

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Warning: Anyone want some lemonade? Cause there is an abundance of lemons in this chapter…

And a huge plate of cookies and hugs for everyone who has reviewed, thank you!

* * *

The dull blue of the sky hung over the young man with a heaviness that one so young should not be forced to endure. How could she say something like that? After all that he had done for her, all that he had been through recently? Did she really think that he was heartless after all? No, it couldn't be that. Why would Sora like him if he really was callous? Sora wouldn't have been able to stand being with anyone who wasn't truly good deep down inside, would he?

"Stupid fucking Kairi making me think all these stupid fucking thoughts." Riku mumbled, looking up into the star filled sky. So many worlds out there, ones that they still had not travelled to. Riku wondered if Sora would want to travel to more of them in the future. All in all, the silver haired teen was surprised that Sora had agreed so willingly to live with him. He had expected Sora to flat out reject him, not to mention various states of bodily harm. But to have Sora agree to live with him, do so willingly and as his boyfriend was beyond Riku's wildest dreams. At best he thought that Sora might have gone as a roommate, as best friends.

At that moment, a noise startled Riku and from his place beside the fire. A dark figure was quickly approaching, and was showing no signs of slowing down. Fearing that the heartless were once again invading the islands, Riku called deep down inside himself and felt the familiar warmth that represented his keyblade. Without so much as a second thought, the dark blade appeared in Riku's outstretched hand. Pushing himself off the ground in a lazy manner, the silver haired youth kept his eyes focused on the approaching figure, trying to decipher what exactly it was before getting himself into a battle ready position. 

A slight dust followed whatever it was approaching, making the outline of whatever it was seem eerie in the darkness. But as it came closer and closer, the figure appeared to be more human than not, but it was moving at a pace that called out distress. Knowing that this island was occupied by only two others at the moment, Riku began to wonder if it was Kairi or Sora running towards him with such vigour. Not releasing his weapon in fear that who ever was running towards him was possibly trying to escape an enemy, Riku stood sharply, still in a defensive pose.

It was only a few seconds later that the flash of pink clothing was enough to tell him that the frantic person was Kairi, and she did not seem to be happy. With every passing second, Riku could make out the details more and more clearly, and it was obvious that she was crying. 

Relaxing only slightly, Riku watched her carefully as she got closer and wonderer if she even noticed him standing there at all. His question would be answered immediately, as she finally made it to the fire, and the redhead had a look of pure hate plastered on her face, directed only at the silver haired teen.

"I hate you more than you'll ever know." She glared with pure malice, and that look made Riku's skin crawl.

"And why is that?" He replied with an equally hateful expression.

"You robbed me of my happily ever after! If it wasn't for you, I'd be the one with Sora, and I would never force him to run away from his past! He'd be so much happier with me, you know!" she screamed in a childlike tantrum, complete with foot stomping. 

Riku opened his mouth to retaliate, but it dawned on him that if he did, he would be not better than her.

"Aren't you going to say anything to me?" she demanded, not leaving him as he had expected her to.

"What do you want me to say, Kairi? That I'm sorry? That I'll walk away and give you your 'happily ever after'? What about Sora? Have you even considered how he feels about this?" He asked, trying to keep his voice calm as he pulled his keyblade back into his body, attempting not to intimidate her.

Kairi took a step back, as if Riku had shot poison out at her. "This is not about him. This is about me!" 

Riku just let out a snicker, turning away from the girl. "Your views on life are so small, Kairi. Do you really think that Sora would be happy staying here for the rest of his life?" Riku turned his head back up to the stars. "After all he's been through, do you really want to make him stay in a world that is so back water and will not accept what he has become?" 

"It's our destiny, Riku, and because of you, it's all been ruined!" she argued again, and Riku sighed. She was just not getting it. It was then that Riku felt something that he was sure he would never feel again. The tangible air was enough to tell him what he wanted to know. It had fallen over them like a blanket, Riku assumed when Kairi had arrived. 

"Darkness?" he whispered, not liking the feeling at all. "You're so jealous that you're exuding darkness, Kairi." 

"I'm not jealous! I just want what's coming to me! And that is Sora! He is not yours, he is supposed to mine!" the redhead was in full hysterics now, and it was starting to get on Riku's nerves.

"I didn't realize that I was a prize to be won, Kairi." Sora's voice startled both teens, and the two turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Sure enough, there was Sora walking down the beach with an upset expression. It panged at Riku's chest to see the brunet with such a look on his face. At that moment, Riku felt ready to do anything possible to put the familiar smile back on his boyfriends face.

"But, Sora, it's our destiny to be together!" the redhead whined with desperation.

Sora just shook his head and walked over to stand beside Riku. "I don't know what it will take to make you understand, Kairi. But there never was, and never will be something between us." Sora answered her whining, determined not to break under pressure as he was often known for doing. The feeling of Riku standing right next to him was enormously encouraging, though.

"You're just talking crazy now, Sora. You're mind must still be scrambled from travelling between worlds. That and Riku is tainting you with his dark thoughts." Kairi began to spout excuse after excuse, hoping to win Sora over, unaware that this was just pissing the young keyblade master off even more.

"Shut up, Kairi!" Sora snapped, unable to take her constant whining any longer. "Just accept it. I will never be with you, Riku will never be with you, and you can just go off and share a paopu with someone else. We've shared ours, now if you want to argue with destiny, go ahead. Just be aware that a destiny is something already planned, and you would be better off to just let it run its course." Sora knew that he was being a little harsh on her, but it seemed that this was the only way. And without waiting for a reply, Sora turned and walked right into the shack, slamming the door, in turn leaving a hysterical Kairi and a confused Riku standing there, staring at the closed door.

"Now look what you've done, Kairi. Do us both a favour and just leave us alone, forget about us or whatever. Just get over yourself and realize that we are going to be happy together." Riku glared daggers at the redhead before following the same path that his boyfriend had just taken. 

As he approached the door to the shack, Riku felt a little bit of apprehension of what he would find behind the door. Who knows how Sora would be taking Kairi's betrayal. After all, Sora had traversed the worlds to try and recover the girl's heart, then refused to go back to his original world to keep a promise to the same girl. 

"Sora?" he asked in a quiet voice, not wanting to interfere with Sora's private time, just in case that he had needed a moment to sort things out for himself.

"Just a second, Riku!" Sora's voice called out, a little muffled through the wood. Leaning up against the wall, Riku crossed his arms across his chest, watching the water. There on the horizon was a sight he was glad to see. A single person boat, making its way towards the main land, the familiar sight of the redhead piloting it. She was leaving the play island! That would make Sora feel better, knowing that the thorn from his side was now out of the picture. 

It took a few minutes; Riku just stared at the partial moon that was hanging above the water, pleased that it was not the familiar heart shaped moon that he had seen way too often over the past two years. But although Kingdom Hearts had exploded, Riku knew that it was still out there somewhere, just as he believed that there were still heartless, and nobodies, out there. As long as darkness survived, there would always be a chance that either would come back to destroy the worlds. But neither Riku, nor Sora would ever allow that to happen. 

After a few minutes of thinking in his own little world, the door to the shack opened, shattering the silence of the night, and what Riku saw, was a surprise. 

"Sora?" he questioned, a little breathlessly. 

"Hee, sorry it took so long, Riku. I just had a few things that I had to talk to Roxas about. And he really doesn't like being around too many other people. Said something about it doesn't hurt if he doesn't make attachments." Sora rambled, unaware that Riku was paying little attention to his rambling, but was fixated on the sight in front of him.

Sora was standing there, clad in nothing but his skin and silver crown pendent. 

"Um, Sora?" Riku asked, unable to say anything else as Sora stood there in front of him.

"What?" the naïve boy cocked his head to the side, unsure of why his boyfriend was not being very articulate. "Oh, I thought we could go for a swim, especially now that Kairi is gone. Just like old times. One last chance for a swim before we leave this place."

"Swim?" Riku answered in a squeaky voice, still unable to say anything more as Sora laughed, then ran passed him down towards the shore line. The sound of Sora's voice followed him, the laughter that of so many of Riku's memories. Watching the naked form of his boyfriend enter the waves, Riku hesitated for barely a moment before joining Sora in his state of undress. Riku paused before removing his wrist cover, but knowing that Sora had already seen what was beneath it, it was quickly added to the pile of clothing before Riku ran towards the crashing waves.

The feeling of the still warm sand under his bare feet brought back many memories of himself and Sora as children doing just this, waiting until everyone else was gone from the islands and stripping before sharing one last skinny dip before calling it a night. Back then it had all been so innocent, neither of them knowing exactly what was to be expected from them in the coming years, or what was in store for them as people, or as friends.

As Riku approached the water, Sora turned his back towards the shore, and with a grin to his silver haired boyfriend, he dove under the dark waves. Riku slowing walked into the water, the liquid just as warm as it always was. It was something that he would always remember about these islands, but not something that he would necessarily miss. Briefly, he wondered if Radiant Garden had any nice beeches near it for them to go to.

Now waist deep, Riku looked around the murky waters, hoping to see where Sora was, but he was slightly surprised to see no one else in the waters. 

"Sora?" he couldn't help but call out, still neither hearing nor seeing a sign of the brunet.

There were no disturbances in the water, and that freaked Riku out a little. Sora might have been a keyblade master, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't be prone to injury. 

The silver haired boy continued to scan the horizon for any sign of hid boyfriend, that task slightly more difficult due to the fact that the only light was now coming from the pale, yet thankfully round, moon. 

Wondering if Sora had turned back and headed up to the shore, Riku turned his back to the vast ocean, his vision running over the empty shore line, disappointment creeping over his features. Was there the possibility that Sora had gotten injured in the last battle? Riku would never forgive himself if he had failed to notice an injury on his boyfriend because he was fixated on watching Sora's ass running naked down to the shore. 

"Where the fuck are you, Sora?" Riku whispered, running a damp hand through his dry hair. Without warning, Riku felt something thud against his back, throwing him off balance, and causing him to fly forward, face first into the shallower water. It caused the silver haired teen to be submerged, and being unprepared for the dunking, the salty waters quickly invaded his nostrils and open mouth, forcing Riku to surface immediately, sputtering in an attempt to eject the water from the orifices. He had fallen into fairly shallow water, so raising himself on his hands and knees got his back, neck and shoulders above the surf, able to turn around to see his once missing boyfriend standing there, arms stretched out as he had just pushed someone, and an innocent smile playing on his features that didn't fool Riku in the least.

"Sora…"he growled, giving no other indication or warning to the brunet before tackling him, sending them both crashing back into the surf, under the waves. Although the brunet tried flailing his arms, Riku wrapped his arms tightly around the Sora's torso, effectively pinning his arms to his sides, and with that, removing Sora's means of escape. Even under the dark water, Riku saw a pout form on his boyfriends lips, so he brought both of them back to the surface of the shallows.

"No fair Riku! No holding!" Sora gave the older teen his best pout, but after dealing with the brunet for so many years, the silver haired teen had built up immunity to said pout. But it didn't mean that he didn't find it amazingly attractive.

"I'm not holding." Riku said a matter-of-factly. "I'm cuddling." His voice was soft and Riku began to nuzzle his face into the side of Sora's neck, refusing to let him go. 

"Riku?" the younger teen's voice had taken on a strangely breathless tone, one that called to every responsive nerve in Riku's body, ushering it to the surface anywhere that their bare skin was making contact. Riku just pulled his boyfriend closer, needing to feel the intimacy between the two of them. Sora's breath hitched at the feeling of skin on skin, and as soon as he felt Riku's bare thighs rubbing up against his own, he knew that this wasn't going to be the same as the skinny dips that they had shared in the past. As he felt a stirring sensation in the pits of his stomach, Sora realized that Riku was going to make the last couple of hours that they were going to be spending together on Destiny Islands memorable.

"Sora…" Riku finally spoke, as he began to grind his arousal into his boyfriend's leg, his voice no louder than a whisper. Once again, the brunet felt his breath hitch as he felt the evidence of their closeness pressed against his leg in the form of Riku's now hardened member. The grinding was slow, but the friction caused by Riku's naked body and his own was enough to make the stirring sensation dive deeply into Sora's body, centering in the younger teens groin. 

The salt water waves splashed over the two teens, coming up to their chests, leaving the heads above the surf. Sora managed to get one arm free of Riku's grasp as the silver haired teen was distracted, and used the free hand to run down Riku's arm. A feather light touch was all that Sora was willing to do in fear of ruining the moment. As he brought the hand slowly back up the arm after reaching the wrist, the younger boy looked up into his boyfriends face. Illuminated by the moonlight, the vibrant green eyes watched him with a passionate fire of lust. There was something about the passion in those eyes that lit a fire deep inside Sora, Causing the brunet to become turned on to no end.

"Riku…" he moaned out wantonly, running his hands down the older teens arm, relishing in the smoothness of the skin. As soon as his fingers made their way down Riku's firm bicep, the brunet's fingers danced from arm to chest. Riku let out a shuttering breath, the wandering fingers leaving a tingling sensation where ever they touched the tingling moved along his chest before Sora's fingers found he silver aired teen's pert nipple. Ignoring the hitching breaths of his boyfriend, Sora gently began to roll the small pink nub between his forefinger and thumb. To Riku, the slight pain cause by the pinching was almost as much of a turn on than the fact that he was doing this with Sora of all people. Just as Riku slowed down his thrusting as to enjoy more of the torture that his lover was inflicting on his chest, the brunet ran just his thumb over the hardened flesh in a teasing manner before removing his hand completely.

"Why did you stop?" Riku whispered, not liking the thought of possibly scaring his boyfriend off by moving too fast. 

"Let me do something for you." The younger teen had a devious grin on his lips as he pushed away from the silver haired teen. Whimpering at the loss of contact, Riku took the time to look over Sora's nude figure. Even in the pale moonlight, the deep red scar over Sora's heart stood out like a sore thumb, striking a nerve deep within Riku. His eyes fixated on that one spot, Riku looked up in surprise when he felt Sora's hands pushing against his shoulders. "Move up in the sand a bit." Were the only instructions that he was given, and from the lusty gleam in Sora's eyes, he knew not to disobey. Rolling over onto his back, the pale teen moved himself towards the shore, the whole time never taking his eyes off the brunet. "That's far enough." The water barely splashed to riku's ankles now, only really wetting them when an extremely forceful wave made it to shore. 

"Sora, what are you doing?" Riku asked, slightly breathless.

"Making you feel good." He answered cryptically, before forcing his lips on to his boyfriend's. Sora pulled away quickly before Riku could deepen the kiss. Without warning, Riku found Sora's lips attached to his chest, right in the centre of his breast bone. Not giving the older teen a chance to think about what was happening to him, Sora lightly kissed a line down the middle of his lover's chest, every so often, his tongue darting out to taste the fair flesh of the older teen. The salt from the water along with the natural taste of Riku were enough to take Sora into an intoxication like euphoria, but reminding himself of what he had set out to do, Sora reluctantly continued to kiss down Riku's chest, nipping at the skin every so often.

"Ugh." Riku groaned out, arching his body up, pushing closer to Sora's lips when the brunet nipped at a sensitive spot right below the older teen's belly button. The silver haired teen's hands instantly flew to Sora's head, burying his long fingers deep into the thick cinnamon spikes. 

"I'll have to remember that spot." The brunet chuckled, placing his own hands on Riku's slender hips, effectively holding him down against the sand. Sora now rested between Riku's legs, face to face with the silver haired teens hardened arousal. The brunet tentatively reached out with one hand, wrapping it around the base, resulting in Riku bucking his hips in anticipation. "Patience, Riku." The brunet grinned, placing a light kiss on the very tip, a deep groan falling from his lover's lips. The fingers still buried in the thick locks began to flex, squeezing in reassurance. Sora's tongue snaked out, giving the head an experimental lick. Slightly salty, the younger teen knew that it wasn't only from the salt water. Sliding his own eyes closed, Sora slowly took the head into his mouth, another moan falling from Riku's lips.

"Sora…" the sliver haired teen whispered out into the night as Sora took a little more into his mouth, the heat of the warm cavern driving the older boy to the brink of insanity. It felt so incredibly good. Feeling his younger lover smile around his erection, Riku almost lost it when Sora's deft tongue began to slide around the head of his cock in a slow seductive ritual, pausing every so often to lick at the underside, or to focus just on the head. Wanting to show Sora some encouragement, Riku tried to buck his hips upwards, but the single hand resting on his hip prevented him from doing so. As Sora's tongue continued its torturous attack, the brunet's head began to bob up and down, the hand wrapped around the base matching the rhythm of his lips. White spots began to cloud Riku's vision; he knew that the end was near.

"Sora!" he cried out, struggling against the hand that held him down. Just as he felt the restraining hand lift from his hip and he began to thrust upwards, Sora pulled away, sitting up between Riku's legs. "Stop…why?" Riku's voice was ragged and breathless, and he was over come with the need to cum so bad that he was unable to even form full sentences. 

"Cause I want something too." Was the response that Sora whispered into Riku's ear, purposely letting his lips ghost over the skin of Riku's ear. Sora felt the chill run down his aroused lover's body, before Riku pulled him close, smashing their lips together, forcing his tongue into Sora's mouth, tasting the salty flavour of his bitter pre-cum, their tongues dancing together, mimicking things to come.

"We need something to prepare you with." Riku breathed out, harshly pulling away and earning a whimper from the brunet. 

"There's a potion. Over there, in the sand." Sora whispered, pointing just above them. Riku turned his head, and sure enough, there was a small bottle jutting out a little from the golden sand, just within his reach. He stretched out his arm, long fingers barely brushing over the clear glass, but managed to wrap around it, pulling the small phial down to them. Looking at the bottle, then to his lover, Riku gave a smirk, before using his free hand to guide the brunet to lie back in the sand, facing towards the star dappled sky.

"Someone came ready." Riku grinned, hovering over the brunet. All he received was a shy smile and a blush from the younger teen. Feeling the water splashing up against his legs, Sora felt a nice warm sensation deep inside at the thought of his first time being not only with Riku, but being here on the beach where he had grown up.

Gently, Sora felt the older teens hand feather over his hip, running across the warmed skin, heading directly towards the brunet's hardened member, A firm hand wrapped around the length and with slow deliberate motions, Riku began to stroke his younger boyfriend.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed at the contact, attempting to thrust up into his lover's hand. With another smirk, the silver haired teen continued to jerk Sora off, but at the same time, he lifted the small phial up to his lips to pull the stopper out with his teeth. The glowing green liquid was bright on the dark night, and it was all Sora could do not to shudder in anticipation. Riku's hand left Sora's arousal, a whimper falling from his lips at the action. 

"You sure that you are okay with this, Sora?" Riku whispered into the brunet's ear. This earned a small growl from the brunet.

"Just hurry up and fuck me already, Riku. Please." The pleading in his voice was almost unheard, hidden behind the irritation of being made to be wait.

A small chuckle escaped the older teen's lips before he decided to comply with his boyfriend's request, although it wasn't a very hard decision.

The cool potion was poured into Riku's open palm before the older teen ran the slicked hand lightly over Sora's balls before slipping behind them, leaving a cool tingling sensation in their wake. As Riku's finger circled the tight ring of muscle, Sora let out a loud gasp. This earned a smile from the silver haired teen as he slowly pushed a single finger into his young lover.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, the sensation strange at first, but as the silver haired teen began to pump the single digit in and out at an agonizingly slow pace, Sora found that he was getting used to the feeling quiet quickly. And with the adjustment, the brunet knew that he wanted more. His hands gripped tightly on the paler boys shoulders, using the leverage to push himself down farther on the intruding finger.

"You ready for another?" Riku whispered into the flushed teen's ear. The forceful push of lips against his own, with a tongue instantly coming out to greet him was enough of an answer for the older teen as he slowly removed the single finger. As he did so, Sora let out a disappointed whimper at the sudden emptiness, earning a chuckle from Riku. "Patience." He whispered slowly, as two fingers now circled the slightly red entrance. Being very careful not to injure his lover before the main event, Riku slowly eased both fingers into his lovers tight passage, feeling the loud groan and the shutter that passed through Sora's body from the inside. He refused to move his fingers until Sora made the first move, and he was relieved when Sora's hips began to roll towards him. Gently, Riku resumed the action of thrusting his fingers in and out of the virgin brunet, earning a noise every time he pushed back in. And every time he pushed back in, he slowly began to scissor his fingers in an attempt to stretch out the brunet as far as possible.

"Does it hurt?" Riku whispered, hoping that he was making Sora feel good.

"A lit…holy fuck!" Sora exclaimed, arching his back off the sand, hips grinding down onto Riku's hand as hard as possible in an attempt to get the silver haired teen to touch there again. "Do that again." The brunet panted, but before he could help guide his lover back to that spot, the older teen removed his fingers. "Riku?" Sora whimpered at the feeling of emptiness again, wanting nothing more than to have Riku's fingers buried back deeply inside of him.

"I think you're ready for everything now." The sliver haired teen grinned, as he poured the rest of the potion onto his hand before reaching down and stroking his own length a few times, insuring that he was generously coated with the shimmering liquid. Using one hand to lift Sora's leg up to rest on his shoulder, Riku's free hand set to the task of positioning his erection at the stretched entrance of Sora's body. "Ready?"

Flexing his fingers on Riku's shoulders, the younger teen nodded, bracing himself against the intrusion. The healing properties of the potion would probably help a little, but in all honesty, Sora wanted to feel this, he needed to. "Yes." He gave his simple one word answer as he felt the older teen slowly begin to push in.

At first it was just a little bit of increased pressure, but as the head began to push past the tight ring of muscle, Sora had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. The fingers hadn't hurt that much, but this did. Inch by inch, Riku moved slowly as he sheathed himself in Sora's heat. He saw the pained expression on the brunet's face, and softly began to kiss the inside of Sora's calf, licking and nipping at the salt flavoured flesh in and attempt to distract Sora's mind from the pain.

Flesh met with flesh as Riku felt himself buried to the hilt deep inside of his lover. Sora's breaths were deep and ragged, the brunet unwilling to make any sounds showing his discomfort. He looked up Riku, the aqua coloured eyes hazed over in pleasure, but his face showing nothing but concern for his younger lover. It was then that Sora realized that Riku was waiting for him to adjust before moving.

"Go slow." Sora whispered, giving his lover both a small smile and permission to move. The hand holding on to Sora's leg squeezed gently as Riku pulled out with the utmost care before pushing back in slowly, letting out a deep groan as he did so. The friction! God, the tightness! It was all so wonderful! Whispering out Sora's name as his eyes slid closed, Riku heard the teen beneath him let out a moan of his own as his hips began to slowly roll towards each thrust, setting a steady rhythm for Riku to follow without going to fast for the brunet. The steady paced matched that of their breathing, and although Riku wanted nothing more than to furiously pound his lover into oblivion, he knew that Sora needed the gentleness, for the first time at least.

"Dammit, Riku. I'm not going to break." The pain had all but vanished from the brunet's voice, as the younger teen began to roll his hips into every thrust that his boyfriend made, needing for the sliver haired teen to strike that one spot once again.

"Sora…"Riku trailed off breathless as he paused his thrusting completely to look down at the bright blue of Sora's eyes, searching for any sign of discomfort. Finding none, he tentatively began to thrust in and out of the brunet at a swifter pace than before, earning a slight sigh of relief from the teen below him. Riku once again began to accelerate, Sora not helping matter by clenching every muscle in his body just as Riku began to pull out every time, creating even more friction between the two of them. Allowing Sora's leg to slide off his shoulders, Riku moved the hand that had been holding the cream thigh in place to snake around his lover's back, pulling him up and supporting him in his one arm in order to get a better angle for penetration.

Sora continued to let out the cute little noises that he had been making all night, as his arms began to shift slightly. They were no longer gripping on for dear life on the sliver haired teens shoulders. But had moved to being wrapped tightly around Riku's back, the shortened finger nails digging into the pale flesh every time that he hit a particularly sensitive spot.

With every thrust, the pace increased more and more, earning an increased number of moans groans and grunts from the two teens. Pulling the brunet teen closer in order to kiss him, Riku was cut off by Sora letting out an extreme moan of pleasure.

"There! Right there!" he exclaimed breathlessly as Riku attempted to hit the same spot over and over again. And with the expression of pure euphoria plastered over Sora's features at the moment, Riku was pretty sure that he was succeeding.

"Riku! I…now…I'm gonna…Riku!" Sora panted as his body was sent into spasms, releasing the milky white seed onto the chest and stomachs of both panting teens. Unable to control his own body, the muscles everywhere in Sora's body began to restrict with pleasure, resulting in the tight passage Riku was buried deep in to constrict even more. Combining that with fact that he had just brought Sora to such and intense orgasm finally sent Riku over his own edge.

"Sora!" was the only audible sound that fell from the silver haired teen's lips as he shot his own load deep inside Sora's body, Riding the spasms out, the only sound coming from either teen was the heavy breathing of both trying to fill their lungs with the sweet ocean air. Riku collapsed gently on top of his lover, too spent to even hold himself up any longer.

The laid like that for who knows how long, the only sound begin that of the crashing waves and the odd shore bird. The waves crashed up beside the two sated lovers, the salt water now splashing up to their hips, telling both boys that the tide was coming in. But neither paid any heed to the rising water. Sora's hand moved from its place on Riku's back up to tangle itself in the damp sliver strands of hair, only to pull the older teen down to him, forcibly planting their lips together on a heated kiss. Their mouths opened simultaneously, tongues darting out to meet one another, tangling together in a simulation of what had just happened. Teeth met only once, but something about it was completely erotic to Riku. Drawing his tongue back into his own mouth, he gently bit Sora's bottom lip, eyes looking up into endless sapphire pools that held so much emotion. 

"Riku…"Sora murmured in a content voice as Riku let go of his lip. "I love you." The confession startled the older teen slightly, he had been sure that he would be the first to say it, but for Sora to be the first after their relationship had been consummated made Riku's heart soar to heights it had never even imagined. 

"Love you too." Riku smiled, leaning down and placing his lips softly over his lover's, pulling the smaller boy close to him.

The two just laid there in silence, neither moving until Riku finally pulled out of the other teen, before lying down beside him and taking him into his arms as the two of them just quietly watched the sparkling starts, no stars blinking out, none shooting off to disappear. Just shining brightly, without a care in the worlds, an act mimicked by the two keyblade wielders help close to one another.

It wasn't until the water reached their chests and the sun began to peak over the horizon that Riku suggested to a sleepy Sora that they go back to the shack and try and get some sleep. Sitting up with a visible wince, Sora gave Riku a devious look that said 'Just try and get some sleep.'

* * *

Wow! I can't believe it's finally done! This chapter has been in the works for a long time, and I just couldn't get it out. The lemon scene was written in like a day, but it was all the stuff at the beginning that took so long…

Anyway, I thought that this might have been the last chapter, but I think that I might have a short epilogue in the works. But I suppose that all depends on the reaction that I get from this chapter hint, hint. As it stands right now, it should be out in the coming couple of weeks. I'm not sure if I want to concentrate on finishing this one, or if I want to get out the next chapter of Accident, because that is almost done as well. Partially because I have been really sick a lot lately, and also I am going through a lot of shit in my personal life right now that has been a real motivation for me and my writing. 

Once again, thank you so much to my wonderfully fantastic twin, you are the best person in the world for me right now! 

Other than that, thanks to everyone for reading and please leave your mark in the review section!


	5. Chapter 5

The Key To A Heart

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Chapter Five

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The bright sunlight peaking through the small cracks in the wood was what finally caused Riku to stir from the heavy sleep he had found himself in. After the two lovers had made their way back to the shack just before dawn, their libidos took over once more and they ended up making love twice more before finally falling asleep from exhaustion. By then, the sun was already basking the cooled earth in her warm embraces.

Letting out a groan, Riku rolled over to take his brunet lover into his arms in an attempt to get back to sleep. But the older teen was surprised to find that his arm only came in contact with the wool blanket they shared last night, his lover oddly absent. And by the temperature of the fabric, he had been gone for quiet some time.

"Sora?" Riku grumbled, sitting up and raising a hand to block out the offending rays of sunshine. If the sun was blaring down on the small shack, which meant that it was already late afternoon. He guessed it was understandable seeing as they hadn't gotten to bed until well into the morning. The warn grey planks of the walls offered no assistance in the search for his lover, however, the large yellow shoes as well as most of the larger pile of clothes still sat over in the corner, meaning that the brunet had probably not gone far. And beside that pile sat the lump of Riku's clothes. Sora must have brought them in earlier, because the silver haired teen had no recollection of bringing them inside after the swim last night.

Arching his back and earning a relieving 'pop' of his spine, the silver haired teen rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand in an attempt to get rid of the remaining sleep. Tossing the blanket off of his naked body, he couldn't help but wince when he felt the crustiness on his stomach, proof of what had gone on last night after they had returned to the small shack. But as disgusting as the feel of it was, the thought of how it got there was enough to bring a smile and a blush to Riku's face. Shaking his head to rid himself of the erotic images for now at least, Riku reluctantly pushed himself off of the ground. As his long body unfolded itself, he realized that there was a slightly pink hue behind the bright sunlight, meaning that it was a lot later than he had originally thought. The teen began to walk over to the door to the shack, yawning as he did so, before noticing that he was still stark naked. And then the rest of yesterday came flooding back to him. The fight with Kairi, the letter and the tension that had risen between the former princess of heart and the two keyblade wielders. And knowing Kairi was pissed off at them, the sanctuary of this island would no longer be theirs alone. She had probably gone straight back to the main island and told everyone exactly why they hadn't been allowed to go to the play island for the past couple of days.

Riku shuddered at the thought of dealing with their old friends and parents again. It wasn't that he didn't want to see them, but the awkwardness, questions and accusations were something that neither he, nor Sora felt up to dealing with anytime in the near future. So with a grumble, he made his way over to the smaller pile of clothing and fished his dark jeans before slipping them on. Not bothering with shoes or a shirt, Riku resumed the task of searching for his missing lover. The wooden door was thrown open easily, and it revealed a sight that was more than pleasing to Riku.

The spiky haired brunet stood, hunched over slightly, leaning heavily on two keyblades, Sleeping Lion and Oblivion, panting. His bare chest heaved with exhaustion, sweat glistening over the taught muscles of his shoulders and arms. The spikes looked like they hadn't been styled today, but were just left to be wild, yet they still moulded into the form Sora favoured them in. Scars dappled against the tanned skin, remnants of times that a cure spell wasn't enough, magic hadn't been replenished, or rationing of potions made it that they could only be used in a life or death situation. All in all, Sora looked as if he had just finished a marathon session of wild sex, and that look was incredibly hot in Riku's eyes.

"Give it up, Sora. This match is mine." A voice filled with laughter drifted to Riku's ears, and he reluctantly tore his vision away from his boyfriend to the other figure. Across from Sora stood Roxas, swinging around his keyblades, Bond of Flame and Oathkeeper, in a lazy manner almost reminiscence of another Nobody. A smile was on the blond's face and he looked none the worse for wear. He was dressed in the black robes of the Organization, yet he didn't seem to be warm in the blazing sunlight. But on further inspection, Riku realized that he could make out the horizon through the blond.

"Come on, Roxas! Make yourself a little more solid so that I can actually land a blow!" Sora exclaimed, his voice laced with laughter. The sound caused Riku to look back over at his younger lover just in time to watch Sora charge his Nobody, a look of fierce determination on his otherwise joyful features. A crashing sound signalled the meeting of four keyblades in a sight that Riku watched with extreme interest. It wasn't every day that you got to watch your boyfriend take battle against his Nobody.

The keyblades all struck together at a blinding speed, both wielders brandishing their weapons with a vigour that Riku often forgot that the brunet even possessed. But just seeing the two battle it out, it reminded the silver haired teen of the past two years, and everything that they had been through, both together and separately. But it was over now, and in less then 24 hours, they would be on their way to Radiant Garden to start a new life. Just the two of them. And that thought caused Riku to grin like a school girl.

A resonating sound rang out, and it caused Riku to break out of his daydream, his attention pulled back towards the two sparring boys. Roxas was beating relentlessly against Sora's block, much like how Sora had described what happened during their last encounter. Sora's bare feet were pushed back inch by inch each time the four weapons collided, the sand not being an ideal place to brace against. As soon as Riku saw his boyfriend's knee fall to the grainy sand, his own keyblade was drawn, and before he could even register what was going on, the silver haired teen was staring down into the familiar ice blue of Roxas' eyes, Way to the Dawn holding both Bond of Flame and Oathkeeper still, as Riku blocked the strike aimed for his lover.

"It's been a while, Roxas." Riku smirked, guarding the brunet, even though he knew that Sora wasn't actually in any real danger.

The blond's only response was a growl before he image of him began to slowly fade away.

"Roxas, you don't have to leave. Besides, you're going to have to get used to Riku being around if you want to come out more often." Sora piped up, shoving Riku slightly to the side to look at his Nobody.

Riku felt the pressure lift from his keyblade as Roxas' own both dissolved from this world, along with his black robe. This left the blond standing there in his usual checkered attire.

"I wasn't actually going to hurt him, Riku. We were just sparring." Roxas sighed, sitting down on the sand, right next to his other, leaving the older teen as the only one standing. And then an almost evil smirk appeared on the blond's face. "By the way, nice mess on your stomach."

And finally it was Riku's turn to blush as Roxas pointed out the dried fluid still clinging to the pale skin. Sora didn't help matters much as he looked over at Riku with an adorably confused look, and asking what exactly Roxas was talking about. But as soon as said liquid was spotted, the brunet joined in his boyfriend's embarrassment. It only took a few moments, but Riku ran quickly down to the shore, splashing water on him to rid himself of the evidence of their lovemaking, leaving the two halves of Sora sitting in the sand, one laughing and one blushing profusely.

By the time Riku returned to the two, Roxas had stopped laughing, and the two seemed to be carrying on a normal conversation.

"I'm not sure how often I will be able to do this. I already feel weaker than last time." Roxas sighed, leaning back at looking at the cherry coloured sky.

"I feel more tired, too. I wonder if it because you have to use my energy?" Sora shrugged, smiling when he saw Riku approaching the pair again. The older teen said nothing as he sat down next to the brunet, pulling the sweaty teen under his arm despite the sticky perspiration and placed a soft kiss into Sora's hair. "Maybe we can talk to Leon about it and he can help us figure something out. I'm sure that he can help us find a way to let you have your own body and not have to use my energy. I mean, his is really smart and everything." Sora added.

"No." Roxas and Riku said at the same time, startling the both of them, as well as the brunet between them.

"Why not? Wouldn't it be cool if Roxas would be able to take on his own body again and we could all be friends! When we start over in Radiant Garden, it would be nice to have someone else our own age there." As Sora rambled on, he felt Riku squeeze him tighter, and Roxas looked away, almost as if he was ashamed. "What? Why doesn't anyone else want Roxas to have a chance at a normal life?"

"Because, Sora." Riku whispered, knowing that Roxas would be able to hear him as well "If Roxas gets a body of his own again, you wouldn't be able to survive. Remember Sora, he is half of who you are. If you were to separate again, you would fall back into that coma, or become a heartless again. And this time, there is no guarantee that we'd be able to turn you back." Riku said as gently as possible, burying his face into Sora's soft spikes in an attempt to hide his sorrow from both halves of his boyfriend. "I can't lose you again."

Sora was quiet for a minute, before turning to his Nobody once more. "Roxas? Is this true?"

The blond refused to meet the brunet's gaze, and just nodded. "These are just projections of me from your heart, Sora. That is where I reside now. If you take me from there, you can't be whole. And I would end up taking vital things and you wouldn't be able to live without me. I'm not saying that you would die, but Riku is right. You'd most likely go back to sleep. It's not worth it. Especially if it means leaving someone you love." The blond slowly lifted his hand and placed it over his artificial heart. A heavy sigh escaped the blond's lips and both Sora and Riku knew that he was thinking about a certain redhead fire wielder.

"I'm sorry, Roxas." Sora apologized, not one hundred percent sure of what he was apologizing for.

"It's alright, but please; don't put Riku through this pain." Roxas finally looked over at the couple, two sets of sapphire eyes meeting in a sad gaze.

"I promise. But I also promise that I will try and find a way for you to live your own life in your own body again without hurting me." Sora proclaimed, a few tears building in the corners of those blue eyes.

"Thanks, Sora." Roxas smiled a slight smile before he began to fade away.

"I'll see you soon, Roxas." Riku said, still holding his boyfriend tight. He was sad that there wasn't anything he could do for the blond, and he silently added his vow to his boyfriends, determined to bring happiness to the blond someday to make up for their unpleasant history.

After Roxas disappeared completely, the couple sat quietly on the beach, basking in the fading sun and each others company. The brunet was so silent under his arm; Riku thought that the younger teen had fallen asleep.

"Riku…" the softness of Sora's voice startled Riku out of his reverie.

"Mmm." He mumbled his acknowledgement, too content with Sora in his arms to say anything more.

"Will you be happy living in Radiant Garden? So close to where Maleficent…you know…" Sora trailed off, not finishing his sentence knowing that it was still a touchy situation for the elder teen. Riku instinctively pulled the sweaty boy to his damp chest.

"I've got my light now. The darkness has no control left over me. And as long as I keep you with me, I will be alright." Riku whispered into Sora's cinnamon hair.

The brunet laughed softly. "You're so corny." He smiled a content smile before turning to face his lover. Giving the older boy a nice smile, the younger teen quickly pressed his lips up onto his boyfriends. And although the kiss itself was only simple, the feelings that it sent coursing through the bodies of both teenagers were anything but. But as Riku reached his hand up to place on the back of Sora's head to deepen the kiss, the brunet quickly pulled away. Their bodies were no longer in contact, and it left the silver haired teen feeling a little bit cold.

"Sora? What's up? Where are you going?" Riku questioned, curious as to what had come over his boyfriend who was pushing himself up off the sand.

"I'll be right back. Just stay there, Riku." The younger teen had a look on his face that could only be described as deviously coy, and before Riku had a chance to respond, Sora was running off behind him, leaving the silver haired teen alone to watch the setting sun and think over the past 24 hours.

A princess of heart exuding darkness; said princess damning the two of them to hell, several times; finding out that the he and Sora would officially be residents of Radiant Garden tomorrow; not to mention the night of incredible night of passion that they had shared. But despite losing one of his best friends, he was never happier. Sora was finally his, and nothing could ever change that now. They might have only been teenagers, but with a connection this deep, one spanning across both light and darkness, there was nothing that could ever break it or tear them apart.

Letting out a content sigh, Riku felt a smile form on his face, as he leaned back in the sand, the white grains warm against his still damp skin. Sure he felt slightly guilty about not going to visit his parents or his childhood friends, but he had his reasons. No one forgot him over the past two years like they had Sora, and he didn't really have a good reason for leaving. No, he couldn't deal with their harsh gazes, so this was for the better. Besides, now that he had Sora, nothing else mattered.

"Are you still awake?" Sora's voice came from behind him, and Riku merely nodded, too lazy to reply verbally. The laughter that laced Sora's voice was like music to his ears, and propping himself up on his elbows, the silver haired teen looked back at the brunet. Sora was walking back towards him, still clad in nothing more than his black shorts, minus the belts and straps, and his silver pendent. Strangely his arms were held behind his back in a un-Sora like fashion.

"What are you hiding, love?" Riku asked, causing the brunet to blush at the term. Ignoring the question, Sora sat down in the sand facing the older teen, whatever it was hidden in his hand still remaining a secret.

A light breeze came off the ocean, playing at the brunet spikes and tossing silver strands into the salty air. Silence fell between the two teenagers as Sora sat there, a look of nervousness on his face for whatever reason, but Riku didn't understand what had caused his lover to become shy around him once again. However, Riku was going to let his boyfriend deal with this nervousness on his own, as it seemed to involve Riku somehow, no matter how long it might take. Something inside was telling him that that was what was necessary this time.

"I love you." Sora finally blurted out, crimson staining the sun kissed cheeks once again, the uneasiness still obviously there.

"I love you too, Sora." Riku smiled a gentle smile, trying not to scare his lover off. The answer caused the brunet to blush even more, and then he returned the smile. And as if knowing that his feelings were still reciprocated, it gave him a new confidence. Riku noticed this new aura around his boyfriend instantly. Shoulders were no longer slouched forward, and Sora's overall posture returned to its normal near perfect state. But the biggest change was in the brunet's eyes. No longer did the sapphire pools reflect the insecurities of a fifteen year old boy, they now showed the self-assurance of a worlds travelling keyblade master, ready to take on anything.

"Remember the first night you were back in your own body?" Sora questioned, looking straight into the aqua of Riku's eyes, and finding himself on the brink of getting lost in there for all eternity.

"Of course. I had never been so happy to take a shower. And that was the first night that I kissed you." Riku smirked, enjoying the blush that seemed to refuse to let Sora out of its grasp.

"Besides that. You told me that you tricked me into sharing a paopu fruit with you." It was now Riku's turn to blush. He hadn't meant to tell Sora about that. At least not until they were actually together, but at the time, it just seemed to be the right moment. Come on, they were on their way to fight the most powerful Nobody ever. Everyone is allowed to confess things that they had done in the past.

"Yeah, I remember." Answered the older teen, hiding his embarrassment much easier than his lovers. Sora probably never even noticed that the silver haired teen had stayed embarrassed for more than a few seconds.

The brunet paused the, fidgeting slightly in his spot, looking a little uncomfortable, seeing as his hands remained firmly behind his back. Their eyes one more time and as soon as Sora saw all his love, feelings and emotions reflected in his lovers eyes, he found the courage to continue on.

"Do you think that it would mean more if we both consent to sharing it?" and with that, Sora revealed the item behind his back: a ripe, star shaped yellow paopu fruit.

Riku looked at him, slightly shocked at the item, but insanely happy at the same time. When he had given Sora the paopu smoothie, it had been because he never wanted to lose the brunet to someone like Kairi. But now the brunet was offering to openly share one of the legendary fruit with him. Riku offered a small, yet loving smile.

"Of course, Sora." The brunet grinned hearing Riku's answer, before lifting the star between them.

"I love you." Sora repeated, leaning into the fruit, cerulean eyes watching every move his lover made.

"I love you too, Sora. May our destinies always entwine and involve each other." The whispered promise caused Sora's breath to hitch. He recognized the vow as that of what couples said to each other in a traditional island wedding before sharing a paopu. For Riku to say those words to him caused Sora's heart to head harshly with excitement. Those words meant that Riku had promised to be his for the rest of their lives.

"May our lives, souls and hearts forever be as one, never to be parted, even in death." Sora choked out, continuing the vow, and trying to hold back tears of happiness that stung at the corners of his eyes. Never had he ever been so utterly content.

"For life." Riku whispered, placing his hand over the brunet's that held the fruit, before sinking his teeth in to one point of the star.

"For eternity." Sora answered, taking the sweet fruit into his mouth and taking a bite, feeling Riku do the same. The yellow flesh of the fruit was sweet, but before he had a chance to swallow, Sora felt Riku's mouth upon his own, sealing their vows with a kiss. It was a chaste kiss, yet extremely passionate, Sora whimpered in need as Riku pulled away without deepening the kiss, but allowing both to swallow the fruit in the their mouths.

"I meant every word of that vow. I'm sorry I don't have any rings." Riku apologized; running a hand over Sora's flushed cheek gently.

"Don't apologize! I meant everything too. And I am glad it was with you." Sora smiled in contentment. Deep in his heart he knew that there was nothing in all the worlds that would be able to tear them apart anymore. A feeling that ran so deep, it was literally part of their souls. It was what had connected them over the past two years, no matter which side of the light their allegiances had lay. But now that they were finally together in a time of peace, that bond was stronger, almost to the point of being tangible.

Both teens just sat there in the sand, leaning against one another, watching as the sky began to turn into a fiery orange. Their last sunset together on Destiny Islands.

"Sora." Riku spoke softly, his arm wrapped around the smaller teens shoulders, while Sora had an arm placed around the older teen's stomach, effectively pulling them close enough that their bare chests touched, one damp from sparring, one damp with ocean water.

"Yeah?" he answered, in a voice that was far too innocent. Riku couldn't believe that the same voice had been saying such naughty things only a few hours ago.

"Do you think that you'll be happy?" he threw Sora's question back at him. It was something that he needed to know. Riku needed to make sure that he wasn't pushing his younger lover into anything.

"As long as I am with you, I know that I will be." The brunet grinned, using his free arm to lift Riku's scarred wrist, bringing the marked flesh to his lips before placing dozens of feather light kisses over the sensitive skin. "I've wanted to do that all day." He mumbled, with a smile, flicking his tongue over the scare then the slightly raised tattoo.

"Now who's sounding corny?" Riku chuckled, trying to suppress the moan that was dancing behind his lips since the brunet began.

"Aww, you love me anyway." Sora giggled, dropping the arm before pulling himself closer to the paler teen.

"Yeah, I do." Riku smiled, squeezing the brunet tightly. "And you love me."

"Sure do." Sora returned the smile, very content in the feeling of being held.

And the two of them just sat there, watching the sun set on this part of their lives, knowing that many more doors were being opened for them, with some being closed at the same time, but they were both confident in one thing. They had each other. And neither would even trade that feeling for anything else in all the worlds of light or darkness.

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And….its finished! I know the ending is kinda corny, but at the same time, I love how it turned out! And come on, everyone is allowed to have one corny story under their belts right? I know some people wanted me to keep going on about their lives in Radiant Garden, but I think that I am happy with where this is ending. And this chapter was only suppose to be a five page epilogue around 2,000 words….4,000 words later, it has turned into another full length chapter. Oh well, more for everyone to read.

I want to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favourited, emailed, PM'd me, and generally just read this mini epic. I can't thank you all enough for urging me to continue this past the oneshot that it was originally going to be.

And tons of huggles go out to my favourite Twin, you have made this whole thing possible, especially with the editing and the caffeine induced all nighters trying to come up with plot bunnies! We really have to learn what sleep is….

Once again, thank you so much to everyone for reading and I hope you take a few seconds and show me some support in the review section. And look for the next chapter of Accident to come out soon. Huggles and cookies for everyone!


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